Dirksen Building escapee caught

Kevin Lynch, Tribune staff reporterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Authorities on Thursday captured a Chicago man who escaped from the Dirksen Federal Building this month while in FBI custody.

Reginald Potts, 24, was arrested at 2:45 a.m. by officers with the Chicago FBI's Violent Crimes Task Force at the home of a friend of Potts' in the 900 block of East Hyde Park Boulevard, said Kathleen McChesney, special agent-in-charge of the FBI in Chicago.

When Potts spotted members of the task force, including FBI agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department and Cook County Sheriff's Department, he attempted to flee, McChesney said, but was captured a short distance away, hiding under a bush.

Potts of the 8300 block of South Essex Avenue was turned over to Highland Park police Thursday afternoon to face charges he threatened to kill a detective and his family.

He remained in the Lake County Jail, where his bond was set at $100,000. He faces a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Lake County Circuit Court, charged with two counts of felony intimidation.

Potts was arrested for the alleged threats June 8, when members of the FBI task force arranged for a meeting to question him on an unrelated investigation into a car theft ring and other violent crimes.

He was taken to the Dirksen Federal Building, handcuffed to a bench in the prisoner processing room and left alone, which is a violation of FBI policy, McChesney said.

Because the cuffs were applied too loosely, she said, Potts was able to slip free and make his way down a fire escape stairwell. The FBI and other agencies conducted an extensive nationwide manhunt.

Potts was charged with fleeing and eluding to avoid lawful prosecution June 11. But U.S. attorneys dropped those charges Thursday, which is standard procedure when a fugitive is captured and turned over to another law enforcement agency, McChesney said. She would not say if anyone was disciplined for leaving Potts alone at the Dirksen building.